The Year that Everything Changed
by DramaLexy
Summary: In one year, Elliot and Olivia's lives will be turned upside down and inside out, but they'll get through it together. FINISHED
1. Prologue

TITLE: The Year that Everything Changed

AUTHOR: DramaLexy

PAIRING: EO, of course :-)

SUMMARY: In one year, Elliot and Olivia's lives will be turned upside down and inside out, but they'll get through it together.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm not exactly sure where this fits into the L&O timeline. I started writing it before Elliot and Kathy split up on the show, so it could just be one of the hundreds of pieces of "wishful thinking" fiction that have been written over the years, or it could actually be set about now, starting in early 2005. I'll leave that up to the reader.

* * *

Olivia Benson looked up from the paperwork on her desk as she saw her partner return to the squad house after an afternoon in court. "How'd it go?" she asked him. He shrugged as he tossed his coat over the back of his chair and sat down at his desk. 

"All right. Like Novak said, it was an open and shut case."

Their backlog of forms kept them both busy for a few hours. Elliot noticed when Olivia sat back with a sigh, rolling her head to work the kinks out of her neck.

"Why don't you head home?" he told her. "You've been pulling double duty for a while." Olivia looked up at that. She'd thought that Elliot had been so distracted with his home life crisis of late that he hadn't noticed she'd been covering for him.

"Thanks," she told him. "But I'm okay. I'll be done soon."

"You want to go get drinks afterwards?" Elliot asked. "I'll buy."

"And the surprises keep coming." Elliot smiled.

"Seriously, Liv. I've been meaning to thank you for everything you've done. It hasn't been easy lately, with the divorce, and I know that you've been picking up the slack." Olivia nodded.

"You're welcome. How are the kids doing?"

"All right. I talk to Maureen almost every day, now, actually. Apparently Kathy's been seeing someone." Olivia studied his face.

"Are you okay with that?"

"Do I have any right not to be? We're not together anymore." She accepted that.

"How about the kids?"

"I guess they like him. Kathleen said he's around the house a lot, which they all like. He took them all on a picnic or something last weekend. Tossed a ball around with Dickie."

"When are you going to see them?" Olivia asked, changing tacks.

"I'm not sure. I keep trying to set something up with Kathy, but she says there's a scheduling conflict. Elizabeth's got a recital or Dickie's got a game or Kathleen's got some big project."

"They're your kids, too, El."

"I know, I just…They've been hurt enough this year. I just want things to be easy for them." Olivia considered the short stack of papers in front of her, and then got up, grabbing her coat.

"Come on," she told her partner.

"What?"

"You sound like you could use that drink right about now."

* * *

After a few hours at O'Malleys and a few drinks, they hailed a cab. "Come back to my place?" Elliot asked Olivia. He'd gotten a pretty nice apartment not too far from the precinct after the divorce. "It's still early. We can watch movies or something." Olivia smiled. She enjoyed their late night movie sessions. They were even better friends now, and as much as she knew Elliot was hurting, he'd become an even better person to be around since he and Kathy had split. 

"Sure," she told him.

Elliot was laughing at a joke she'd made about the suspect in their latest case as they approached his apartment. They both stopped short, however, when they saw three figures waiting outside his door.

"Kathleen, Lizzie, Dickie, what's going on?" Elliot asked, kneeling down in front of them. Only Lizzie and Dickie had coats on – despite the fact that it was probably twenty degrees outside – and it was a long way from Queens to Manhattan.

"Can we stay here tonight, Daddy?" Lizzie asked him.

"Where's your mother?" Dickie shrugged.

"She went out." Elliot's brow furrowed.

"Went out? Out where?"

"To the store," Kathleen told him. "We wanted to see you, Dad, please, can we stay?" Elliot nodded, pulling out his keys and unlocking the door.

"Come on," he told them, ushering them all inside. "I'm gonna call your mom, let her know where you are. You think she'd be home yet?"

"No, don't call the house!" Elizabeth told him. Elliot turned back from the phone, his concern starting to turn to panic.

"Why?" he asked them. "What's going on?" He then noticed a shadow on the side of Kathleen's face. "Kathleen, is that a bruise?" he asked her. She quickly tipped her head, letting her hair cover it.

"No," she told him, but couldn't look him in the eye.

"Pull your hair back," Elliot ordered. She hesitated a moment, but flipped her long blonde hair over her other shoulder. Elliot felt his blood boil when he saw the huge bruise on her face. Olivia instantly went to get ice.

"What happened?" Elliot asked the kids, his voice dangerously quiet. All three kids looked at each other, their resolves cracking. One tear ran down Elizabeth's face as she turned back to her father.

"She left us with him."


	2. Chapter One

Olivia stood behind Elliot in the doorway to his bedroom. His three younger children were asleep together on his bed, Kathleen's arm protectively draped over the twins. "They finally out?" Olivia whispered. Elliot nodded. "Did…did he hurt Lizzie or Dickie?" Olivia quietly asked after giving Elliot a minute.

"I…I don't think so. Kathleen…Kathleen protected them." Olivia nodded.

"Fin and Munch went to pick him up. He's not going to get away with it." She wasn't sure if he heard her or not; he had his back to her and would not turn around.

"My God," Elliot finally whispered, and when he faced his partner, she saw the tears running down his face. She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him over to sit down on the couch.

"They're going to be okay," she whispered. "They will, I promise. You'll make sure of it."

* * *

"Dad?" Elliot started at the voice, and looked up to see Elizabeth and Dickie standing by the couch. "What's for breakfast?" Dickie asked. 

Elliot looked down to see that Olivia was still asleep beside him, her head on his shoulder. He gently shook her as he got up. "I'm not sure, buddy," Elliot told his son. "I think I've got some bagels and cereal."

"Morning, Olivia," Lizzie told her.

"Morning, sweetie."

"Where's your sister?" Elliot asked the twins.

"In your room. She won't come out." Olivia smiled at Elliot.

"How about you get breakfast and I'll get Kathleen?" Elliot started to protest, but Elizabeth and Dickie each already had one of his hands and from their grips, he didn't think they were letting go. He finally nodded to his partner and headed for the kitchen.

* * *

Olivia knocked on the doorframe of Elliot's bedroom, and Kathleen looked up at her. "I don't want to go to school," she told Olivia. "Everyone will see my face and know what happened." Olivia smiled. 

"Not necessarily," she said. She went into the living room and came back with her purse. She then pulled out her makeup bag. "I've gotten pretty good at covering up bruises over the years." She covered up the mark as best as she could, and when Kathleen let her hair down from the ponytail she'd slept with, it was hardly noticeable. "There," Olivia told her with a smile as they stood in front of the bathroom mirror. Kathleen nodded.

"Thank you," she told her.

"No problem. Now, I think your dad and the twins are making breakfast. How about we go get something to eat?" Olivia started to leave, but Kathleen grabbed her hand.

"Olivia…" Tears welled in her eyes and threatened to spill. "It wasn't our fault, was it?" Olivia hugged her until she had stopped crying.

"You did nothing wrong," she said. "Nothing."

* * *

"Dad." Elliot looked away from Munch at the sound of the voice of his eldest. Maureen came over and hugged him. "I just got out of class," she told him. "Mom called me. She was completely freaking out. What happened? Are Kathleen, Lizzie and Dickie okay? Where are they?" 

"They're at school," Elliot told her. "They're coming here afterwards. They oughta be here soon, actually" Elliot looked up as one of the clerks handed him a folder with reports. Elliot shook his head angrily as he read through it.

"What is it?" Maureen asked him.

"I never should have listened to your mother."

"What?"

"She told me not to run a background check on this guy, and I trusted her judgment. He's got a rap sheet." Maureen's eyes were wide.

"Maureen!" she turned around when she heard her siblings call her and somehow managed to hug all three of them at once.

"Hey, guys. I missed you."

"Olivia's going to take you upstairs until we're ready for you, okay?" Elliot said. They were getting statements from all of the children. Olivia took them up to the crib and Cragen came out of his office behind Elliot.

"Elliot, let Olivia, Munch, and Fin handle the case." He turned.

"What?"

"The last thing we need is for this thing to get screwed up because you go and beat the crap out of the guy. Let the others work the case."

"They're my kids, Captain," Elliot told him, trying to keep his tears at bay and his voice from cracking. "This…this happened because I wasn't there to protect them. You've got to let me make this right for them."

"They're family to all of us," Cragen assured him. "And we're going to do this right; you have my word on that. Let the others handle the case."

* * *

"What time did your mom leave last night?" Munch asked Lizzie as they sat in the interview room. She thought about it. 

"Around 8:30. We'd had dinner, but Mom said she had some things she needed to get and that Tom would stay with us."

* * *

"What did you do after your mom left?" Fin asked Dickie in the interrogation room. 

"I had homework, and then I was reading comic books. Me and Lizzie are supposed to be in bed at nine, but we can read until nine thirty."

"Did you go to bed on time?"

"Yeah, Kathleen nags us about that. She thinks she's so special 'cause she can stay up later than us."

"Where was Kathleen when you went to bed?"

"In her room. She had homework, too."

"And where was Tom?" Dickie looked up at him, a mix of sadness and worry on his face.

"I don't know."

* * *

"I was working on my precalc homework," Kathleen told Olivia as they talked in the crib. "Tom came in. He wanted to know if I needed help. I said yes; I hate trig." 

"Then what happened?" Olivia asked her, making notes.

"He was standing over my shoulder. I remember thinking that he was really close, but I didn't really think that much of it. He started playing with my hair. He said I looked a lot like my mom. I didn't…I didn't like how he kept looking at me. It was scaring me. I told him I was going to check on the twins, since they were supposed to be asleep. He grabbed my arm to keep me from leaving. He told me he'd do to Lizzie what he was going to do to me if I ever said a word. I remember fighting him, but I don't know if I actually hit him or kicked him or not. He finally let go in order to hit me, and I ran. I went to Lizzie's room and locked the door."

* * *

"I was still awake when Kathleen came in," Lizzie told Munch. "I was scared 'cause she was crying, and the side of her face was all red. Tom tried to open the door, but he couldn't. He banged on it, and I was scared it was going to break and he'd come in. I guess he heard me scream, and then he stopped. He said 'not a word' and then it was quiet. I asked Kathleen what he was talking about, but she wouldn't tell me. She was really scared, though. Dickie knocked on the door, and she nearly jumped out of her skin." 

"When did you leave your house?" Fin asked Dickie.

"I went to Lizzie's room, and Kathleen was there, too. She told us to put on our coats. We keep them up in our rooms, but Kathleen had left hers downstairs, and she wouldn't go get it. We went out my window and climbed down the tree."

"How did you get to Manhattan?"

"We walked to the subway station at Main Street. I'd never taken the subway all the way to Manhattan before, but Kathleen read the maps and told us where we needed to go. It was really late, and me and Lizzie were scared, but she told us everything would be okay again once we got to Dad's apartment."

Elliot turned away from the window, shutting off the intercom into the room. His frustration and anger boiled to the surface as he banged his fist against the wall.

* * *

Elliot didn't know what he would do without his eldest daughter. Maureen took Kathleen, Dickie, and Lizzie to get hot chocolate and brownies at a bakery down the street once everyone was done with them. She currently had her siblings up in the crib, helping with homework. 

"Those are three amazing kids," Fin told Elliot as he came into the main area of the squad room. Elliot didn't reply.

"El," Olivia said, and tipped her head towards the doorway, which Kathy was coming through. Elliot stood up to meet her.

"Where are they?" she asked him.

"Upstairs. We need to talk."

"No, I need to see my children." Elliot looked up the staircase and saw all four of his kids waiting at the top. He nodded to them, and they came down the steps, the twins in the lead. Kathy hugged them both, and noticed that Kathleen was hanging back. "Sweetie…I'm so, so sorry." Kathleen nodded, but didn't move any closer.

"Why don't you go and get your bags so you can go home, okay?" Elliot told the children. Lizzie turned to him, worried.

"Is Tom going to be there?!?"

"No, he's not," Elliot told her, kneeling down next to her. "You're never going to see him again."

"Promise?" Dickie asked.

"Yes, I promise."

"I don't want to go back home," Kathleen said. "Can't I stay with you, Dad?"

"Me, too?"

"Me, too?" the twins quickly echoed. Elliot looked up at Kathy, who refused to look him in the eye.

"There's nothing to be afraid of anymore," he told the three. They didn't look convinced.

"Please, Daddy?" Kathleen asked him. He looked to her, surprised. She hadn't called him Daddy in years.

"Let me talk to your mom," he finally said. "Go get you stuff together." They hurried back upstairs. Maureen exchanged looks with both of her parents before following her siblings.

"The kids have nothing to worry about anymore," Kathy told Elliot.

"Kath, they got attacked in their own house!"

"Damnit, Elliot, don't you think I know that?!?" Elliot pulled her into the interview room before they made a scene. He did not need to be adding more fuel to the rumor mill.

"Okay, there are three kids upstairs who are terrified of their own home, so can we put our little spitting contest aside for five minutes and figure out what is best for them?"

"You live in a two bedroom apartment where you're tripping over your furniture. What are you going to do with three kids?"

"I'll work it out."

"You're serious about this?" Kathy asked, surprised. "You seriously think you can take care of the three of them by yourself? When was the last time you were with any of them by yourself?"

"We will work it out," Elliot repeated. "Look, you can drag the three of them out of here kicking and screaming, or you can listen to them and try to help them. That's all I want to do." Kathy just stared at him for a long minute, but finally stormed out. Kathleen, Lizzie, and Dickie were waiting at Elliot's desk. She stooped to hug and kiss all three of them, and then left.

* * *

Elliot's first dilemma was cooking dinner, which he did not know how to do. Luckily, Olivia had come home with him to help get the kids settled, and she got all three of them to help her make lasagna. For right now, the kids were in sleeping bags. Lizzie and Kathleen were in the spare bedroom, and Dickie was with Elliot in his room – for now. Elliot had taken the rest of the week off from work, and they were going shopping for furniture and decorations in the morning. 

Elliot and Olivia talked for a while once the kids were asleep, but he finally walked her to the door, since she did have to get up for work in the morning. "Thank you," he told her. She smiled.

"It's no problem, really."

"Yeah, well, you're still a lifesaver."

"Mmm-hmm. We baked two pans of lasagna. You guys can eat the second this week. Kathleen knows what to do with it."

"Thanks."

"Bye, El."

"Bye." Elliot shut and locked the door behind her, and was startled to see Kathleen in the doorway to her room. "Hey, sweetie, what are you doing up?"

"Bad dream." Elliot pulled her down to sit on the couch with him. "Dad, are you and Olivia dating?" He turned to her, fast.

"Why would you say that?" Kathleen shrugged.

"She came home with you last night and tonight."

"We're just really good friends, sweetie. We like hanging out together. Olivia's been a really big help for me since your mom and I separated." Kathleen took that in.

"It wouldn't be that bad if you were dating her," she told her father. "You seem really happy when you're around her. You weren't happy like that before." Elliot was stunned. _Is her imagination in overdrive, or…_

"Well, thank you for your approval," he told his daughter. "Why don't you head on to bed, okay? We've got a lot to do tomorrow."

"Okay," Kathleen said, standing up. "Night, Dad."

"Night."

* * *

Elliot had allowed the kids the day off of school to get their rooms in order, so once they had finished at the house, they headed out to get something to eat. Elliot was surprised when he saw Olivia enter the diner they were sitting in. "Hey, what's up?" he asked her. 

"I got a lunch invitation," she replied, looking to the kids. Kathleen pulled out her cell phone.

"I called her," she confessed. "I thought we could treat her to lunch since she made dinner for us." Elliot nodded, moving over so that Olivia could join him and Lizzie in the booth.

"Have you guys ordered?" Olivia asked.

"Nope, you're right on time!" Dickie told her with a smile. She returned it.

After their waitress had taken their order, Elliot listened while the kids told Olivia all about the things they'd gotten for their rooms. Dickie had decided to take a corner of the living room instead of staying in Elliot's room, so he was proudly saying that he had the biggest room in the apartment. Kathleen and Lizzie had picked out linen that defined each of their styles, plus gotten a few posters and other things to decorate with.

Before they knew it, Olivia needed to get back to the precinct, and Elliot was taking the kids by the house in Queens to get clothes and everything they needed for school. The kids leaned conspiratorially across the table while Elliot paid the check at the counter after Olivia had left.

"Phase one: mission accomplished," Kathleen told the twins.

* * *

TBC... 


	3. Chapter Two

AN: I got a question in a review about when Elliot and Kathy split. It happened on the show this season (two or three episodes before the winter reruns began) and I think that she took the kids and moved out, but for my story, I wanted Elliot to have his own place, so Kathy and the kids have the house. Like I said, this story can either be building off of what's going on right now on the show (in which case, Elliot and Olivia would have had a lot of issues to work out before they were this good of friends again ;-) ) or it's just a random "E/K divorced, E/O together" fic.

* * *

The rest of the week flew by. Elliot took the kids for their first visit to their new psychiatrist, and everyone seemed to like her. They also had dinner on Friday night with Kathy in Queens. Elliot was pretty sure none of the kids blamed her for what happened. He knew Kathleen didn't trust her, though, and despite the problems between him and Kathy, he was sorry that trust had been lost. 

The situation was further complicated by the fact that Olivia, whom Kathy did not like, was currently a lot closer to the kids than she was. Elliot called his partner every night after the kids were asleep to fill her in on the day's developments.

"You want me to make myself scarce for a bit?" she asked him on Friday night.

"No. That's the last thing I want. The kids trust you. Kathy can deal."

"Daddy?" he looked up to see Lizzie in his doorway.

"Hang on," he told Olivia. "Hey, baby, what's wrong?"

"I couldn't sleep. Who are you talking to?"

"Olivia. You want to say hi?" Lizzie nodded and climbed onto his bed. Elliot handed her the phone.

"Hi."

"Hey, Lizzie. Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"Yeah. I couldn't sleep."

"All right, well, tell your dad you can have him and I'll talk to him tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay. Night, Olivia."

"Night, sweetie." Lizzie handed Elliot the phone back.

"She said she'd talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay," Elliot said as he hung up the receiver. "Now, com'ere, you." He pulled Lizzie against him. "How come you can't sleep?"

"I dunno."

"Are you scared of something?"

"We never have to be scared with you, Daddy," Lizzie told him with a smile. "You'd never let anyone hurt us." Elliot tried to return her smile.

"I will do my best to make sure no one ever hurts you again," he promised. Lizzie thought about that.

"Were you mad that Mom started dating somebody?"

"Not until he hurt you guys."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Kathleen said that we shouldn't tell you about Tom. She didn't want to make you angry." Elliot sighed. _Since when have I been so out of the loop?_

"Lizzie, you don't ever have to be afraid to tell me something, okay? You can talk to me about anything."

"Anything?" she repeated.

"Absolutely." There was another pause.

"How come you haven't started dating, too?" _Lord, deliver me…_

"Because I haven't wanted to. Right now, I'm perfectly happy with my job, my kids, and my friends."

"Like Olivia?"

"Yeah, and the guys I play ball with." Lizzie gave him a mischievous grin.

"You think we could invite Olivia to go to the park with us on Sunday?"

"I think you will have to call her and ask her that, okay?"

"Okay!"

"Now, do you think you can get some sleep?"

"Maybe?"

"Maybe. Back to your room, you. Go." Lizzie hugged him.

"Night, Daddy."

"Night, princess."

* * *

Olivia smiled as she saw Lizzie, Dickie, and Kathleen with Elliot on a picnic blanket in Central Park. Luckily for them, it had turned out to be an unseasonably warm day, and perfect for a winter picnic. 

"Olivia!" the three kids cried when they saw her, all running over to give her hugs.

"Hey, guys. Thanks for inviting me."

"We've got tons of food," Dickie told her, pulling her towards their picnic basket.

"The kids packed," Elliot informed her, turning away from trying to find a good station on the battery powered radio they had brought.

"I'm impressed," she said as she took in their stock of sandwiches, chips, fruit, a big thermos of hot chocolate, and cookies for dessert. "Everything looks great."

"Can we go play catch?" Dickie asked his sisters.

"I'll take you," Elliot offered.

"No!" all three kids said in unison, a little too quickly and a little too loudly.

"I'll go with them," Kathleen tried to cover. They all got up, and Elizabeth pushed 'play' on the radio's tape deck before they scampered off. Classical music began to play. Olivia smiled as she sat down.

"I have a feeling we've been set up," she told her partner.

"What would give you that idea?" Olivia laughed.

"I guess we oughta make the best of it," she said, pulling food for them out of the basket.

"You've been making a lot of things a whole lot better lately," Elliot confessed.

* * *

Kathleen, Dickie, and Elizabeth were tossing Dickie's Nerf ball around for good measure, but kept sneaking looks back at the picnic site. "You think this'll work?" Elizabeth asked her sister as she threw the ball. 

"Just give them time," she told them.

"Kathleen?" Dickie asked as he caught a pass from her. "You think Dad'll make us go back to living with Mom if he starts dating Olivia?" She frowned.

"Why would he do that?"

"Maybe they'll want their own family."

"No way," she told her brother, but he had gotten her thinking.

"Hey, look!" Elizabeth said. The ball, which had been midair, fell to the ground as the three watched their father kiss Olivia.

"It worked," Dickie said with a smile.

* * *

After a couple weeks of the kids staying with Elliot, everyone was beginning to fall into a routine. When everyone woke up in the morning, it was Elizabeth and Dickie's jobs to get bowls and cereal boxes set out for breakfast. On the days that Elliot and Olivia got in from work early, they would all make dinner together, and make enough for a couple meals so that the kids had something to heat up on the nights Elliot worked late. Olivia usually came for dinner and they would all spend time together once homework was done. Some nights, she had to go back to the precinct after they ate to keep working on whatever Elliot wasn't there to help with. He felt guilty, but she knew his kids needed him. 

On one such night where Olivia ducked out early, Elliot walked her out while the kids cleaned up dinner. "They're staying with Kathy this weekend," he told her as they stood in the doorway. "We'll have the place to ourselves."

"Sounds promising."

"Mmm."

"See you in morning."

"Yeah. Don't stay too late."

"I'll do my best." Elliot shut the door behind her and joined the kids in the kitchen.

"How come we have to stay in Queens this weekend?" Elizabeth asked her father.

"Because your mother misses you terribly and I know you guys miss her, too."

"We're coming back, though, right?" Dickie asked.

"Of course. Are you kidding me? This place would be so boring without the three of you. I wouldn't be able to stand the quiet. I'd go absolutely mad."

"I don't think that's too far of a stretch for you," Kathleen told him. Elliot grabbed the spray nozzle from the sink and hit her with water. Pretty soon, all four of them were in a splash fight.

* * *

"Bye guys," Elliot told his kids as he shuffled them out the door. "I'll see you on Sunday afternoon." 

"Promise?" Dickie asked one more time, just for good measure.

"I promise." Elliot made sure they got on the elevator, knowing that Kathy was waiting for them downstairs, then shut the door and leaned against it. Olivia laughed at the expression on his face. "Alone at last."

"Alone, huh? You want me to go, too?"

"Don't even pretend. It has been a long week and the only thing that has kept me going is the thought of not having to share you with the kids all weekend." Olivia kissed him.

"Poor baby." Elliot trailed kisses down her neck.

"I know how you can make it better, though."

"Oh, really? How is that?" What he proceeded to whisper in her ear made her turn six shades of red. "You kiss your kids with that mouth?"

"You only live once."

"And I have a feeling you're planning on doing a lot of living this weekend."

* * *

Once the twins were asleep, Kathy went to check on Kathleen. She was reading on her bed. "I bet you're glad to have your own room again," she told her daughter. 

"Actually, I like sharing a room with Lizzie," Kathleen replied.

"Oh…School going okay?"

"Yeah. Olivia's good with math homework."

"That's nice. If you have any to do while you're here, I – "

"I don't."

"All right…What are you doing tomorrow?"

"I dunno. Why?"

"I thought we could do something. Maybe have a nice dinner together." Kathleen shrugged.

"Whatever."

"Okay…Goodnight."

"Night."

"I love you, Kathleen." She finally had to give up on the stone wall façade.

"I love you, too, Mom."

* * *

Even Kathleen had to admit that Saturday was fun. They all went ice skating together, something they hadn't done in years. Afterwards, they got hot chocolate and then headed back to the house. All of the kids were surprised to see a car in the driveway when they got back. 

"Who's that?" Lizzie asked her mother.

"That's a friend of mine." As they got out of their car, a man got out of the one that was waiting for them. "Guys, this is Jeff Carr. I invited him over for dinner so you could meet him. Jeff, these are my kids, Kathleen, Elizabeth, and Dickie." He smiled at all three of them.

"It's nice to meet you," he said, shaking Dickie's hand, then Elizabeth's. "I've heard so much about you." He turned to Kathleen, who was looking more uneasy by the moment. As he reached for her hand, "You look so much like your mother."

Kathleen stepped away. "What's wrong?" Kathy asked her.

"I want to go back to Dad's," she said.

"Kathleen, it's only Saturday."

"I don't care; I want to go back to Dad's!"

* * *

Elliot was at the counter in his kitchen, making a very late lunch for him and Olivia, when he felt her arms wrap around him from behind. "Hey." 

"Hey. Whatcha fixing?"

"Just sandwiches. You and Kathleen are the chefs around here, not me." Olivia smiled, resting her chin on his shoulder.

"You miss them already, don't you?"

"Yeah. I mean…I've missed so much of their lives, but now…I can't imagine them not being here." They looked up at a knock on the door. Elliot went to answer it, and was surprised to see Kathleen and Kathy in the hall. "What's wrong?" he instantly asked. Kathleen wrapped her arms around him, and so Elliot looked expectantly to Kathy. She noticed Olivia behind him, and could very easily deduce what they had interrupted from the fact that she was only wearing an oversized NYPD t-shirt.

"I need to go; Lizzie and Dickie are downstairs in the car," Kathy finally said. "Kathleen, I'm sorry." She turned and left. Elliot pulled Kathleen inside the apartment and shut the door.

"Hey, sweetie, what happened?" Elliot asked as he took Kathleen over to the couch.

"Mom has a new boyfriend," Kathleen told him, wiping her eyes. "He didn't do anything, just…I don't know. I was scared anyway. So I asked Mom to bring me back. I'm sorry, Dad, I really am." She looked between him and Olivia. "I know you were looking forward to this weekend."

"Don't worry about that," Elliot assured her. "Don't worry about anything. You're fine."

* * *

In the end, Kathleen wound up spending Sunday morning with friends, so Elliot and Olivia were at least able to salvage some of their weekend. Elliot went to pick up the twins while Olivia went to get Kathleen, and they were all meeting with Maureen for dinner. 

When Kathy opened the door, she instantly recognized the look in Elliot's eyes. He had his game face on. "Elliot, how many times are you going to make me apologize?"

"How about until our kids feel safe again? You think you can manage that?"

"I didn't think it would be a problem."

"Yeah, we'll you apparently haven't been doing much thinking lately."

"Elizabeth and Dickie were fine."

"Elizabeth and Dickie didn't nearly get raped in their bedrooms." Kathy looked up at him, almost as if it hadn't sunk in until he said the word.

"Is Kathleen okay?" she finally asked.

"She will be." Elizabeth and Dickie came down the stairs at that moment.

"Dad!" they both cried, running to hug him.

"Hey, guys. You ready to go?"

"Yup. Bye, Mom," they said as they grabbed their bags.

"Bye." Elizabeth and Dickie headed for the car, and Elliot was about to follow, but Kathy grabbed his arm.

"Will you tell Kathleen to call me?"

"I'm not going to make her to anything, but I'll let her know you want to talk to her."

* * *

At the end of a long, typical night at Elliot's apartment, he and Olivia headed into his room to watch TV and talk without waking up Dickie in the living room. Elliot was surprised when Olivia handed a picture of a house to him. "What's this?" he asked. 

"It's just something to think about," she replied. "A friend of mine from college is in real estate."

"You're thinking of moving?"

"Maybe. It's a pretty nice place. Four bedrooms, dining room, living room. A fireplace."

"Sounds nice."

"Yeah…The kids could each have their own rooms." That statement made Elliot look up.

"What?"

"I know it's kinda fast, but the house isn't going to be ready for another month, and I figured we could use the space, you know? Everyone can agree your apartment's kinda cramped."

"I like the word 'close'."

"'Close' is synonymous with 'cramped'." Elliot laughed.

"So, let me get this straight: are you asking me to move in with you?"

"Yeah, I guess I am."

* * *

TBC...

I'm a review junkie. Feed my addiction.


	4. Chapter Three

Just wanted to leave a quick note thanking everyone for the reviews. I now have a smile on my face, so on with the story :-)

* * *

By the time all four Stabler kids were getting ready to have spring break, they had settled into the new house. Kathy wasn't particularly thrilled with the situation, but had the sense to keep her mouth shut around the kids. Kathleen, Dickie, and Elizabeth were spending more time with their mother; they alternated weeks and sometimes the kids were split between the two houses, depending upon scheduling conflicts. Things were kinda hectic, but they made them work. 

As Elliot and Olivia came into the house one night after work, the first thing they heard was a yelling match of "is not," "is, too," coming from upstairs. The next was something that sounded suspiciously like glass breaking in the living room.

"Gee, and I thought we had punched out for the night," Elliot muttered. Olivia smiled.

"I'll get Dickie, you get the girls. And be nice."

"Me?" Elliot asked. Olivia pointed to him with a knowing look as she went into the living room. Dickie was desperately trying to pick up the pieces of what he'd broken – a photo of the SVU unit from a Christmas party a few years back. A baseball and his glove were lying next to him on the floor.

"I'm sorry, Olivia," he told her as she joined him on the floor. "I didn't mean to."

"I thought you weren't supposed to be throwing baseballs in the house?"

"I know," Dickie responded dejectedly. "But Kathleen said I couldn't go outside because it was too close to dinner." Olivia frowned.

"I don't smell food."

* * *

Kathleen and Lizzie jumped when the door to Lizzie's room slammed open. "Great," Kathleen told her sister. "Dad and Olivia are already home." 

"It's not my turn!" Lizzie yelled.

"Is, too!"

"Is not!"

"All right, can it, both of you," Elliot yelled over them. They both fell silent. "What is going on?!?"

"It was Lizzie's turn to make dinner," Kathleen told him.

"Kathleen makes dinner, Dickie and I do dishes," Lizzie countered.

"I'm sick of always having to take care of them!" Kathleen told her father.

"I'm sorry, but it comes with the territory of being the oldest," Elliot told her. "If you want to shift around who does what and when, we can work on that this weekend, but we need all of you guys to help us out, okay?" Silence. "Okay?" Elliot tried again.

"Fine," they both grumbled.

"All right. Now, I'm going to order pizza and check on Dickie. Can both of you stay up here, in your own rooms, without fighting, until the food gets here?" He got two nods, and Kathleen headed for her room. Everyone on the block probably heard her door slam, but Elliot let it go.

Olivia was in the kitchen, trying to pull together food for dinner, when Elliot got downstairs. "Don't bother," he told her, taking a menu out of the folder on the counter.

"Everything okay upstairs?" she asked.

"I think we have our first major meltdown on our hands."

* * *

Since Kathy was going to Canada to see her parents for Easter, and Maureen wasn't staying on campus during break, Elliot had all four kids for a week and a half. Maureen was bunking with Kathleen, and it was like a slumber party every night, or so Elliot grumbled to Olivia. She just smiled, seeing straight through him. In truth, they both knew that he loved having all of the kids around. The house was loud, happy, and alive. 

Elliot had gotten an extra day after Easter off of work, but Olivia had to head into the precinct on Monday morning. Dinner the night before had been spectacular, and since Olivia had done most of the cooking, Elliot had promised that he and the kids would get the house back in order before she came home. This of course meant that they all waited until five o'clock to start cleaning. Elliot wound up getting all of the trash together while Maureen and Kathleen unloaded the dishwasher, Dickie put away all of the placemats and napkins, and Lizzie started working on the mound of clothes that they all needed to tackle.

Elliot swallowed a swear as the bag in the bathroom trashcan broke as he picked it up. He started picking up the contents, but stopped when he noticed the little cardboard box on the floor. _Oh, my God…_

* * *

Elizabeth looked up when her father stormed into the living room. "Go up to your room," he told her. 

"I thought I was – "

"Go!" Lizzie dropped the shirt she'd been folding.

"Fine by me," she said as she left.

"Maureen, Kathleen, front and center!" Elliot yelled. Both girls appeared from the kitchen.

"What's going on?" the older of the two asked. Elliot held up what he'd found: a pregnancy test box.

"I found this upstairs in the trash," he told them. "Whose is it? And who's the father?" Maureen and Kathleen stared at each other, wide eyed. "No, don't look at each other; look at me. I want an answer." However, silence reigned. "Maureen?"

"What?" she cried. "Dad – "

"You've been seeing someone, haven't you?"

"Yeah, but Dad…" She was getting redder by the minute. "It hasn't gone that far. I swear," she added for good measure. "And if it had, a.) I would not have taken a pregnancy test in this house, and b.) I would have told you if I had gotten pregnant. And helped Olivia peel you off the ceiling afterward."

"Cute," Elliot told her as he looked to his other daughter. "Well then, how come I didn't know you were dating someone?" he asked Kathleen. Her eyes bugged.

"Because I'm not!" she protested.

* * *

Olivia nearly tripped over Lizzie and Dickie as she came in the door. "Hey, guys, what's going on?" she asked them, seeing that they had been worriedly waiting for her. 

"Dad's going super cop on Kathleen and Maureen," Lizzie told her.

"Why?"

"I dunno. All we were doing was cleaning."

"Yeah," Dickie said. "Kathleen and Maureen had the dishes, I was cleaning up the dining room, Lizzie was folding clothes, and Dad was getting the garbage." Then it clicked. Olivia headed into the living room.

"Elliot, wait," she told him.

"Olivia!" both girls cried. "Please, make him stop," Maureen begged her. "He's totally lost it."

"I have not lost it," Elliot countered. He showed Olivia the box. "I found this upstairs in the trash." Olivia smiled at the girls.

"Go on upstairs. I've got it." They both shot Elliot looks before heading up to their room.

"Liv, neither of them were telling me anything – "

"That's because there's nothing for them to tell," she replied. "When you decided upon holding this little questioning session, you forgot a suspect – the most obvious one, I'd think. You're either losing your touch, Stabler, or your memory. Or both." Elliot just stared at her.

"You mean…"

"Uh-huh."

"And?"

"And…you better be nice to me, 'cause you know how much I hate desk duty." Elliot was frozen, and Olivia started to get worried. "El? This is a good thing, right? I mean, I know we definitely weren't planning for it, but I'm happy, and I thought you would be, too. El? Say something, you're scaring me." Instead of saying something, he pulled her into his arms. He could instantly feel her relax.

"How far along are you?"

"About six weeks."

"You're on desk duty starting tomorrow." Olivia raised an eyebrow, shooting him a look she usually reserved for suspects.

"No, actually, Elliot, I'm not, but we can talk about that later. Right now, I think you have two daughters to do some serious apologizing to, don't you?" Elliot groaned.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Olivia mocked him as she pushed him towards the stairs.

* * *

Olivia looked up from the ingredients of the summer-morning breakfast she was making when she heard the front door open. Elliot joined her in the kitchen moments later. "Morning," he told her. 

"Morning. How was your run?"

"Good. The kids still asleep?" Olivia looked down, and then gave him a wry smile.

"Three out of the four." Elliot laughed, wrapping his arms around her from behind and putting a hand over the just-barely-noticeable bump of her stomach.

"Are you giving your mother a hard time?" he asked the baby.

"He takes after his father," Olivia told him as she beat the eggs.

"Ouch. And it could be a she taking after her father. So there."

"You know, you could just find out if it it's a boy or a girl," Kathleen said as she joined them in the kitchen, grabbing a nectarine out of the bowl on the counter. "Then you can stop arguing."

"What would be the fun in that?" Elliot asked as he kissed her forehead. "Morning."

"Morning," Kathleen replied. "Oh, Dad! The shower's got your name on it. Go." Olivia tried not to laugh out loud at the expression on Elliot's face.

"Well!" he said. "I know where I'm not wanted." He headed for the staircase.

"What are your plans for today?" Olivia asked Kathleen.

"I dunno. Some of my friends wanted to have a movie marathon in honor of school finally being out, but one movie ticket is expensive enough, let alone two or three." Olivia smiled.

"Well, if you want to invite a couple friends over here to watch DVDs, you're welcome." She shrugged.

"Nah. Lizzie would want to watch, too, and then we'd have to stick to PG-13 movies."

"With her puppy-dog eyes, she could probably get your father to let her watch, but I can understand if you're looking for a sibling free day." Kathleen nodded, chewing thoughtfully on her fruit.

"Are you and Dad going to get married?" she asked Olivia, who nearly dropped the spoon she was holding.

"What? Where did that come from?"

"It's a valid question, considering the circumstances."

"Considering what circumstances?" Olivia asked. "It's not the 1950s; the fact that your dad and I are having a child doesn't automatically mean that we're getting married."

"Do you love him?"

"Elliot is my best friend in the whole world. We've been there for each other through a lot of things."

"But do you love him, Olivia?" She stopped messing around with the waffle iron.

"Yes," she finally said. "But…I don't think your dad is ready to get married again, and to tell you the truth, I'm not willing to risk our friendship on that. So for right now, the answer to your original question is no."

* * *

Elliot glanced away from his own reflection to look at his son. By the time he'd gotten out of the shower, Dickie was up and about, and Elliot had invited his son to come shave with him. Of course, the razor Dickie was holding didn't have a blade in it, but they had some of their best conversations during the alone time. 

"You missed a spot," Elliot told his son.

"Where?" Elliot splattered shaving crème on his nose.

"There." Dickie laughed.

"Hey, Dad? Will we still get to hang out when the baby's born?"

"Of course we will. You are always going to be my best guy."

"Even if I get a little brother?"

"Even if."

"Hey, Dad? How come Olivia doesn't have a ring like Mom's?" Elliot frowned.

"You mean a wedding ring?"

"Yeah."

"Cause Olivia and I aren't married."

"Why not? We're family now, aren't we?" Elliot smiled down at his son.

"Yeah, bud. We are all family."

"Miss Rachel says we're lucky, 'cause we have two families."

"Well, Miss Rachel is a very good psychiatrist and she's right. You and you sisters have two families that love you very much."

"So does that mean you're gonna give Olivia a ring?" Elliot just smiled.

"I'll get back to you on that, Mr. Nosey."

"Okay. Hey, Dad?"

"Yeah?" Dickie wiped shaving cream on his father's nose.

"Missed a spot."

* * *

Elliot frowned at the sight of Olivia's empty desk as he came into the squad room after spending one July morning in court. "Where is she?" he asked Fin. After Cragen had found out about the baby, he'd repaired his detectives. Sometimes Elliot felt like knocking Munch out, but it was still a better arrangement than he or Olivia getting transferred out of SVU. 

"Bathroom," Fin replied without looking up from his paperwork.

"Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's just putting makeup over…um, nevermind." Elliot stormed over to the bathroom and banged on the door.

"Liv, get out here!" he yelled. When she appeared, Elliot could see that she'd only gotten halfway through covering up her quickly forming black eye. "What the hell happened?"

"It's nothing, Elliot."

"Who hit you?"

"El – "

"Who hit you?!?"

"Suspect," she finally relented. "Huang suggested that a female detective would get through to him better."

"And you just couldn't wait for someone else to get back in? What were you thinking?"

"I'm fine, Elliot. It's just a bruise."

"This time," was all he said before turning away. Olivia gave up on the makeup and sighed as she sat back down across from Fin.

"Don't say it," she told her partner.

"Say what? I told you so? I wasn't going to." She shot him a look.

* * *

Elliot was working late on a case that night, so Olivia had dinner with the kids, packed lunches for Lizzie and Dickie's next day of summer camp, settled a few arguments over TV channels, and got them all to bed. It had been a while since Elliot hadn't been home by the time the kids were going to bed, and Olivia tried not to wonder if that was her fault. 

By the time Elliot finally did come in, it was past midnight. He was surprised to see Olivia on the couch, wrapped up in a blanket, waiting for him. "Everything went okay?" she quietly asked.

"Yeah, just a long night."

"Elliot? I'm sorry about today. Really, I am. Before I went in the interrogation room, I wasn't thinking that anything was going to happen, I just…I'm sorry."

"I know you are. I just…the thought of something happening to you, to either of you…I don't know what I'd do." Olivia nodded. "Come on, let's go to bed." Olivia got up from the couch, but Elliot had to grab her arm to keep her from falling. "You okay?"

"Yeah. I've just been a little…off all night. I'm probably just tired."

"Why don't you take tomorrow off?" Olivia shook her head.

"I'm fine. I'll be out on leave soon enough."

* * *

"I told you I could handle it," Olivia told Elliot as they walked out of a brownstone that was the scene of their latest case. "If in moderation, I can actually do my job." 

"I'd still prefer you don't," Elliot told her. They weren't in the greatest of neighborhoods, and this little voice in the back of his head wouldn't stop nagging him. Olivia kissed him.

"I know," she replied. "So, you wanna buy me a soda and a hot dog?"

"Sure." He loved to see her smile. He knew it was cliché, but she really was glowing.

She stepped ahead of him towards the vendor a quarter-block away, and when the unmistakable sound of a gunshot rang out, Elliot was too far to reach for her hand to pull her to the sidewalk along with him. He saw her drop to the ground, though, and then noticed that she wasn't moving.

"Liv?" he cried as she scrambled over to her. As he turned her over, he saw the wound in her chest. Her lips were crimson, though not just from her lipstick anymore, and were desperately trying to form his name. "Shh, shh, shh," he told her, pulling her into his arms after he called for a bus. "Hang on, baby, please. Hang on."

"Elliot," she finally managed to choke out, but that was all she said before her eyes slid shut.

* * *

"Elliot? Elliot!" He finally opened his eyes and looked around in confusion. He finally realized that he was in his dark bedroom, and Olivia had been the one calling his name. _Oh, my God, it was just a dream…_

"What is it?" he asked when he saw the look on her face. "Are you okay?" Olivia shook her head.

"Something's wrong."


	5. Chapter Four

"Dad!" Elliot looked up when he saw Kathy and the kids come into the waiting room at the hospital. All three ran to hug him.

"Where's Olivia?" Lizzie asked.

"In there," Elliot said, pointing to the door.

"Is she okay?" Kathleen asked.

"She will be. Why don't you guys go in and say hi?" He turned to Kathy once the kids were inside Olivia's room. "I know, I should have called them," he told Kathy, knowing exactly what the first words out of her mouth would be. "I meant to, I just…the doctor came and…it's been a long night."

"Why didn't you call me? They're my kids, too, Elliot, and you scared them half to death this morning."

"I'm sorry. I'll talk to them." Kathy pursed her lips.

"I'm taking them home with me."

"That's probably good. They shouldn't be hanging around the hospital all day."

"No, Elliot, I mean I'm taking them home. For good." He turned, eyes blazing.

"What?!?"

"You got your chance to play super dad, but you obviously have your hands full. I've spent too much time over the years trying to provide a stable life for those kids for you to ruin everything in one year."

"What are you talking about? The kids like staying with me and Olivia."

"You're their father. They want to make you happy. They don't like getting shuttled back and forth, Elliot. And they left behind their friends and their home when you moved them to Manhattan."

"We can work out a more structured custody agreement, then. And they have friends in Manhattan that they'll be seeing all the time once school starts in a couple weeks, plus they still see their old friends on the weekends." Kathy sighed.

"Do you know what Lizzie told me the other day? That she had two Moms now. I am sorry, Elliot, but I will be damned before…" She trailed off.

"What happened to you?" Elliot asked. "Who are you, because you're certainly not the woman I married."

"We both grew up, Elliot." He shook his head in disbelief.

"That's the truth. You haven't even asked if Olivia and the baby are all right." Kathy didn't reply, just went inside to collect the kids.

* * *

"I think it would be for the best if you went on leave now," Cragen told Olivia when he stopped by to visit later that afternoon. "I'm sure neither one of us would want to have to answer to Elliot if something else happened." Olivia smiled, squeezing Elliot's hand as he sat beside her. 

"I'd have to agree with you, Captain. I never realized the chance I was taking until…" He nodded.

"Then it's settled."

"Yeah. I have no idea what I'm going to do with myself all day, but…"

"I have a feeling chasing after three kids will keep you occupied." Olivia smiled.

"Definitely. I can't wait to get home."

"Well, I won't take any more of your time. Elliot, take tomorrow off."

"I'll be there in the afternoon," he told him. Cragen shot him a look.

"Just take another day off. The bean counters are already wide-eyed at your amount of overtime." Elliot finally relented.

"You ready to get out of here?" he asked Olivia once Cragen was gone.

"I've been ready. Are the kids managing with dinner?"

"Kathy's got them," Elliot told her. "So you have my undivided attention." Olivia smiled.

"I like the sound of that."

* * *

She got released early in the evening, and Elliot took her back to the house. "You're going straight to bed," Elliot said as he unlocked the front door. "I'll bring you up something to eat." 

"You're going to cook?" she teased as they went inside. She stopped, however, in the family room, looking around. "Elliot? What's going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"Where are Dickie's video games? And Lizzie's dance stuff?" Elliot sighed, wrapping his arms around her.

"I told you Kathy took the kids."

"But just for the night, right?" He shook his head.

"I don't think she's bringing them back without a court order." Olivia's eyes widened, filled with tears of compassion.

"Oh, Elliot…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

* * *

Olivia sighed as she sat down in the family room with her lunch. The house was extremely quiet and empty feeling, and she hated the look on Elliot's face when he came home at night to the silence. Not to mention, she was bored out of her mind all day. Sometimes Elliot would come by for lunch, bringing Munch or Fin with him, but he always had to work later on those days, so it wasn't a fair trade. It had been a difficult couple of months. 

Olivia looked up when the phone rang, and reached over to answer it. "Hello?"

"Olivia?"

"Kathleen? Sweetie, where are you?" Olivia hadn't talked to the kids since they'd left, and she knew Elliot barely got to talk to them either.

"I'm at school." She laughed shortly. "In the bathroom. Sorry if the reception's bad."

"You're fine. Is something wrong? Do you need to get picked up?"

"No, I just wanted to call you, and this was the only time I could." Olivia could hear the tears in her voice. "I miss you. We all do. Lizzie and Dickie said to say hi."

"Tell them I said the same, and that I miss you guys terribly as well."

"Will you…will you tell Dad that we're sorry? That we didn't mean to be so much trouble?"

"What do you mean, sweetheart?"

"Mom says that taking care of us was too much work, and we're sorry. We didn't mean to make you and the baby sick. I won't fight with Lizzie as much if we can come home. Promise. Will you tell Dad that?"

"Oh, Kathleen…It wasn't your fault, sweetheart. You and your brother and sister had nothing to do with why I wound up in the hospital; that was my fault and my fault alone. And your dad…he wants you back here with us more than anything, I promise you that."

"So it was Mom's idea to take us?" The silence was her answer. "We can run away again. I can get Lizzie and Dickie after school, and we'll be there by dinnertime. We can help you cook."

"I wish you could, sweetie, but I don't think your mom would be too happy about that, and legally, you're supposed to live with her."

"But we don't want to. We want to go home."

"I know…I'll talk to your Dad, okay? We'll all figure something out."

* * *

Olivia put her hand over Elliot's to keep him from loudly drumming his fingers on the table while he waited for Kathy to pick up on the other end of the phone. She'd seen him pissed off before, but all the other times were paling in comparison. 

"Lemme talk to the kids," Elliot demanded when his ex-wife answered the phone.

"Elliot, they're doing homework. Can we do this some other time?"

"So help me, God; Kathy, let me talk to the kids." He could hear the phone being passed off.

"Daddy?" Lizzie asked. 

"Hey, sweetheart."

"Did you talk to Olivia?"

"Yep, I did. I am…I am so sorry you guys thought this was your fault. I never…I never intended for any of this to happen."

"Do we get to go home?"

"I'm working on it." He could then hear the phone get taken away.

"Elliot? What was she talking about?" Kathy asked.

"They want to come back here," he told her. "You never should have taken them in the first place. As you told me, they are our kids, the operative word being 'our.' So you have two options, Kathy: you and I can work out a new custody arrangement for them, or our lawyers can. You decide." He flinched at the sound of the receiver slamming into the cradle.

* * *

Elliot looked up as Casey Novak stopped beside his desk at work. "Something I can help you with?" he asked, leaning back in his chair. She smiled. 

"This is personal, Elliot. How's the lawyer I recommended working out?"

"Great, thanks. I oughta be hearing from him this afternoon, actually." She nodded.

"I'm keeping my fingers crossed for you."

"That means a lot." His phone started ringing, and he reached for it. "Hello?"

"El?"

"Liv, what's up?"

"Can you come home?" Elliot was instantly worried.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Just…get the captain to let you take the rest of the afternoon off, okay?"

"Okay. I'll be right there."

* * *

"Olivia?" Elliot called as he came in the front door. "Where are you? What happened?" She appeared out of the kitchen, and he frowned at the sight of the light brown powder smudged on her face. "What the…" 

"I wasn't expecting you to get home this fast," she told him with a smile, trying to wipe her cheek.

"Yeah, well, I was worried. What's going on?"

"Surprise!" Kathleen, Lizzie, and Dickie yelled as they came out of the kitchen as well. They all ran to hug their father.

"Hey, guys! What are you doing here?"

"Making brownies," Dickie told him, displaying his chocolate-covered fingers before licking one of them.

"Does your mom know where you are?"

"She dropped us off an hour ago," Kathleen told him. "Along with our clothes and our school stuff and all of Dickie's stupid video games."

"They're not stupid!" he protested.

"Does that mean you're staying?" Elliot asked.

"We have to go see Mom sometimes," Lizzie told him. "But she said you guys could work it out." Elliot grinned, pulling all three kids into his arms again.

* * *

"You guys look great," Olivia told Dickie and Lizzie as they modeled their Halloween costumes for her. Kathleen smiled at her siblings as she came down the stairs. 

"Hey, GI Joe, did you borrow that stuff from Dad?" she asked Dickie, indicating the fatigues he was wearing. He smiled.

"Yup!" Lizzie was dressed up as a veterinarian, and was holding a stuffed dog under her arm. "Isn't that going to get annoying to lug around in addition to a candy sack?" Kathleen asked. Lizzie smiled and revealed that the dog was also a backpack.

"I can put my candy in it."

"That's slick," Kathleen told her sister.

"You guys ready to go?" Elliot asked the twins as he came out of the kitchen having finished the dishes.

"Oh, Dad, I'll take them," Kathleen volunteered. Elliot raised an eyebrow.

"You sure? I thought you were going out with some friends?"

"That's not till later. You stay here with Olivia; we'll be fine." Olivia rolled her eyes.

"I'm not porcelain, you know. I'm here by myself all day – a few more hours won't hurt." Kathleen shook her head.

"Stay, have an hour or two to yourselves. I've got my cell. Bye." And then all three kids were out the door. Elliot couldn't help but laugh.

"They are too much."

"Really. You're overprotective enough as it is."

"Am not," Elliot protested, but he was lying through his teeth and they both knew it. "So, now that we've got some time to ourselves, what do you propose we do with it?" Olivia couldn't help but smile at the wicked grin he was giving her.

"Down, boy. Considering that 'time to ourselves' is what put us in this position in the first place and that we have roughly two weeks left until my due date, I am sure that we can find something more productive that needs to get done."

"Ah, but see, I know your weakness."

"And what's that?"

"You can't get off this couch without help, and if I'm going to help you, there's gotta be something in it for me." He leaned over and kissed her. After a long moment, Olivia broke away with a laugh when they both felt the baby kick. Hard.

"See?" she said with a breathless smile. "You've got two of us telling you to find something else to do."

"Uh-huh," Elliot grumbled as he helped her up off the couch. "At least we know the little guy's learning early how to get the attention of a beautiful woman." Olivia smiled.

"Or, Daddy's little princess could be learning early how to wrap you around her little finger."

"Yeah, well, the three girls I've got didn't seem to require any practice at that particular talent. So, where are we starting? Clothes or furniture?"

"Clothes," Olivia told him as they headed upstairs. "You'll never believe what Munch gave us."

* * *

TBC... 


	6. Chapter Five

"His face is all red." Olivia smiled at Lizzie's comment as the little girl ran a gentle finger across her newborn brother's cheek.

"That's because up until a few minutes ago, he was screaming his little lungs out."

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kathleen asked Olivia. She smiled.

"I'm sure."

"I want you guys to get a good look at your brother," Elliot told the kids. "He is living proof that the four of you get your senses of time management or lack thereof from your mother."

"How do you figure?" Maureen asked. Elliot smirked.

"Twenty-two hours," he said, pointing to his eldest. "Seventeen and a half," he added for Kathleen, "And I think the two of you were fighting over who got to go first 'cause you took twenty-four," he told the twins. "Your little brother, however, was only eight."

"We're going to have to discuss your definition of 'only'," Olivia told Elliot, "And considering how often you're late to work, I think all he proves is that he inherited my sense of time management." All the kids laughed.

"When do you get to come home?" Dickie asked.

"Tomorrow," Olivia told him. "I'll be there when you get home from school, okay?" He nodded.

"All right," Elliot said, pulling out the camera. "I want to get a picture of all five of you." Olivia carefully handed the baby to Maureen, and watched as the other kids crowded around for a picture.

"He needs a name," Elizabeth told Olivia as they rejoined her.

"We're still working on that," Elliot replied.

"Well, what are your ideas so far?" Kathleen asked. Elliot and Olivia looked at each other and laughed.

"I think every conversation we've had about names has turned ugly," Olivia told the kids with a smile. "We haven't gotten very far."

"What's his last name?" Dickie asked. "Is it going to be Stabler?"

"Yes," Olivia told him just as Elliot was about to tell his son that they weren't sure about that, either.

"Then I think I've got the perfect idea for a first name," Elliot told them, smiling at Olivia. "Ben. Then he's got both of our names."

"Ben Stabler," Maureen said. "I like it." Dickie smiled as Ben's hand reflexively closed around his finger.

"You and me have got to stick together," he told his little brother. "The house is already overrun with girls."

A little while later, Maureen rounded up her sisters and oldest brother and they all headed for the house. As they were going out the door, something made her look back, and she smiled as she saw Elliot and Olivia admiring the new baby. She took the camera back out and snapped a picture of the three of them without them even realizing it. It was another moment to be added to the scrapbook of moments they'd had that year.

* * *

Kathleen laughed as she watched her little sister. Ben, who was just over a month old, was asleep in his swing in the family room and Lizzie was determined to get the little tiny Santa hat she'd bought onto her brother's head without waking him up. Not that it required much effort – Ben could sleep through almost anything. However, from the amount of care Lizzie was taking, one would have thought that the baby was really a bomb. 

"Who wants hot chocolate?" Olivia asked as she and Dickie came in the room, each carrying two mugs. Elliot followed them, carrying a mug for himself.

"Can we open a couple presents now?" Lizzie asked her father, having finally gotten the hat on Ben.

"You know we have to wait for your sister," Elliot told her.

"When's she going to get here already?" Kathleen asked him. "The smells from the kitchen have been spreading through the house all day. I'm hungry." Elliot smiled.

"I can appreciate your impatience. She oughta be here in a few minutes. Just sit tight. Why don't you guys go set the table so we can eat as soon as she gets here?" All three scampered off.

Christmas music was coming from the stereo, and Elliot smiled at Olivia. "Care to dance?" he asked her. She smiled, and joined him in the middle of the room. Arms wrapped around each other, they got lost in the music.

"Hey, Liv?"

"Mmm?"

"I've been meaning to talk to you – " At that moment, Ben woke up and started squawking. Olivia smiled as she retrieved him from his swing.

"Hope you don't mind sharing me," she told Elliot. He shook his head, so Olivia held Ben with one arm, Elliot took her other hand, and they kept dancing.

"Can you believe it's almost been a year?" he asked after a moment of silence. "A whole year of this insanity called my family."

"Our family," Olivia corrected him. He smiled.

"Our family."

"What were you trying to say before?"

"What?"

"What were you saying when bright eyes over here decided he didn't want to be left out?" Elliot smiled down at his son.

"Always have to be in the middle of everything, don't you, buddy?" Ben stared back, wide-eyed. "You get that from your mother." Olivia pulled her hand out of his in order to lightly smack his shoulder. However, they were both smiling.

"A year ago, I never would have imagined this," Olivia said. "This house, all the kids. You and me. Being so happy. Having a place to belong."

"I couldn't either," Elliot said. "Liv – " The doorbell rang, shattering the moment.

"She's here, she's here!" three voices shouted from the dining room, running for the front door. Elliot, Olivia, and Ben joined them in the foyer as they let Maureen in.

"Merry Christmas Eve," she said as she hugged them all. "Sorry I'm late. I got hung up."

"We've got dinner all ready," Dickie told his sister, dragging her into the dining room. They all sat down together to enjoy the meal.

* * *

It was a few hours before Elliot and Olivia were able to find a moment of peace. Finally, after they'd eaten and cleaned up, and after the kids had exchanged their presents for each other, Maureen was headed for home and the other four kids were headed for bed. Everyone was too old to believe in Santa – except Ben, who was too young – but Elliot had promised that their presents would be returned to the stores bright and early on the day after Christmas if they didn't all go to sleep. 

After changing into a pair of sweats and a tee-shirt, Elliot went back downstairs to find Olivia checking the gifts under the tree.

"Hey, no peeking," Elliot told her. She smiled as she sat back on her heels.

"I wasn't. I was just making sure that all the presents for the kids were sorted." Elliot smiled at the sight of the stacks of presents for the four kids that lived under their roof.

"Jeez," he said. "Who needs Santa Claus when you've got the one-six?" Their fellow detectives had gone above and beyond this year.

"Yeah, well, they're good kids, and everyone at the station knows it. I miss seeing everyone everyday."

"You've only got another month before you come back."

"I know. And then I'm going to be missing Ben all day." Elliot smiled.

"We'll work it out." Olivia pushed play on the stereo, and made sure the volume was low.

"So, how about that dance that got interrupted?" she asked. Elliot smiled, taking her hand and wrapping his other arm around her waist.

"Have I told you lately how beautiful you are?"

"Flattery will not get you out of getting Ben for his three o'clock feeding." They both smiled.

"Liv? You are the best friend a guy could have. I truly do not know what I would do without you."

"You're not going to have to find out."

"If I've learned anything this year, it's that nothing is for certain…I've got something for you." He stepped away, over to the Christmas tree, and reached for one of the branches.

"An ornament?" Olivia asked as she watched him.

"Of sorts," Elliot replied as he pulled the object off of a branch and turned back to her. Her eyes widened when she saw that he was holding a diamond ring. "I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life showing you how much. Will you marry me?" Olivia nodded, tears in her eyes, and he pulled her into his arms.

Neither one of them noticed the three smiling faces at the top of the stairs. A lot had changed that year, but it looked like it had changed for the better.

* * *

Finis. If you haven't already, lemme know what you thought, and if you have already sent a review, THANKS! :-) I'm debating working on a sequel, to be set a few years after the end of this story. Should I do it, or leave this as is?  



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